Larry Swartz

Stop the Hate for Goodness Sake shows teachers how to confront racism and disrupt discrimination in order to deepen students’ understanding of social justice, diversity, and equity. Background information, statistics, and reports on incidents of hate will help students consider ethical and moral behavior. Forty step-by-step lessons involve discussion, oral and written narratives, case studies, assumption charts, and more. This thoughtful examination of today’s world will help teachers encourage reflection, foster inclusion, and inspire students to take action. This in-depth guide will show teachers of 8- to 14-year-olds how to start and manage important conversations that will lead to change.

This practical book is full of quick and easy-to-use lessons that promote meaningful writing practices in the classroom. Teachers will find strategies organized alphabetically and in a consistent format that will inspire students to plan, develop, and share their writing. The lessons allow teachers to choose what they need to meet the diverse and various needs of students in grades one through eight. Each independent lesson guides students through the writing process with information about a writing form, along with suggested literature sources. Tips throughout the book will help students successfully write to narrate, to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to respond, and to enjoy.

Deepening In-Class and Online Learning shows teachers how to make learning joyful as they translate successful classroom strategies to virtual learning. The book includes more than 60 step-by-step strategies that encourage interaction, foster inclusion, and spark imagination. Each activity is presented in a consistent format, ready-to-use in-class and for online learning. Whether teaching virtually or adding digital activities to in-class instruction, this book explores effective ways for students to present, communicate, and collaborate. Innovative activities range from discussing hot topics and sharing personal stories to visual boards and digital storytelling. Also included is an up-to-date glossary of digital tools to help make sense of the shifting landscape in today's classrooms.

Based on what we now know about reading, this practical book offers strategies in a consistent format that is easy for teachers to incorporate in their daily instruction. This grab-bag of classroom-tested activities allows teachers to choose what they need to meet the diverse needs of students in grades 1 through 8. These strategies guide students through the reading process and build important comprehension skills through reading, talk, art, drama, and more. These innovative ways to use the best children’s books inspire students to become enthusiastic and avid readers, and take the first giant step into becoming lifelong readers.

Teaching Tough Topics shows teachers how to lead students to become caring citizens as they read and respond to quality children’s literature. It focuses on topics that can be challenging or sensitive, yet are significant in order to build understanding of social justice, diversity, and equity. Racism, Homophobia, Bullying, Religious Intolerance, Poverty, and Physical and Mental Challenges are just some of the themes explored. The book is rooted in the belief that by using picture books, novels, poetry, and nonfiction, teachers can enrich learning with compassion and empathy as students make connections to texts, to others, and to the world.

Discover key strategies for making words the core of classroom instruction and engagement. Literacy guru Larry Swartz offers novel ways to expand students’ interest in and facility with words and word power — day by day, word by word. This practical resource is designed to help students discover why words matter as they build vocabulary; gain confidence to spell new and difficult words; develop word recognition and process unfamiliar words when reading; increase understanding of words in the content areas; inquire about word meanings and derivations; play with and celebrate words and language; and much more!

Take Me to Your Readers is rooted in the belief that teachers can lead their students to develop their reading tastes and grow in their love of reading at the same time as supporting and stretching students in their meaning-making experiences. This practical resource highlights more than 50 instructional strategies that invite students to work inside and outside a book through reading, writing, talk, and arts experiences.

“This Is a Great Book!” is rooted in the belief that having a wide range of “great” books to read is essential to student success as readers inside the classroom ... and beyond. Based on extensive research, this highly readable book explores a wide range of recommended titles that cover a spectrum of developmental stages for readers of chapter books to young adult novels. It presents novels around popular themes and features guest voices that include innovative teachers, librarians, booksellers, and students. Numerous activities and literacy events form the core of this valuable resource. Reproducible pages include response activities, reflection tools, assessment profiles, and inventories for easy classroom use. Committed to nurturing the love of reading, the book invites readers to dig deeper in their understanding and appreciation of books by responding through writing, discussion, the arts, media, and more. Special attention is given to the world of independent leisure reading, where students make choices based on their preferences and tastes. Experienced and new teachers will find fresh ideas and the tools they need to guide students to “great” books that will make a difference in their lives.

In our society, where emerging technologies unite us in new ways, bullying is reaching epidemic proportions. The Bully-Go-Round provides strategies for a better understanding of all aspects of bullying from the perspective of the bully, the bullied, and the bystander. This handbook offers more than thirty-five activities, including responding in writing, in art, and in role play; lists of resources; discussion prompts; and tips for teachers on providing a safe forum in our classrooms to explore the complexity of the bullying issue.

Creating Caring Classrooms is committed to building respectful relationships among students, teachers, and the school community. Through active, engaging, imaginative, and open-ended activities, students will be encouraged to explore events, ideas, themes, texts, stories, and relationships from different perspectives and then represent those new understandings in innovative and creative ways. Teachers will learn how to establish inclusive classrooms, initiate and maintain respectful dialogue, promote collaboration over competition, and confront difficult issues such as bullying and exclusion.

Drama Schemes, Themes & Dreams offers a comprehensive outline of improvistion and interpretation strategies that theachers can incoroporate in classroom instruction. Organized around universal themes that invite students to make connections to texts and to each other, the book encourages students to consider their own identities and their place in the world. This useful book features a host of sources for dramatic activity, including scripts, monologues, poetry, novel excerpts, and technology. The activities enrich the meaning-making, creative process, and critical skills that students need to succeed in school and life.,

This handy flipchart describes how teachers can effectively use picture books as tools for learning. Through deeper reading, students experience and respond to picture books in a way that enhances understanding and leads to renewed wonder. The Picture Book Experience includes easy-to-use tips, charts, graphic organizers, and activities for whole-classroom or independent reading. The extensive lists of titles, authors, and illustrators help teachers and students select personal picture book favorites to return to again and again.

This playful 32-page flip book explores all aspects of poetry — from guidelines and an overview of poetic forms to the Top Ten lists of various poetry favorites. Handy reproducible masters are also provided which include a poetry timetable, ten questions to ask about any poem, an observation checklist for teachers, and a personal poetry inventory for students.